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During this anarchical period, the famous Artigas was harrying the Banda Oriental; Rosas and Lopez were preparing for their blood-stained careers; Bustos, Ibarra, and a host of other caudillos, ruled the interior provinces; and Juan Facundo Quiroga was raised to irresponsible power.
The Regent, fearing the result of this incursion, sent 5,000 Portuguese troops with a contingent of Brazilians to drive the enemy over the southern frontier. In this the Brazilian force was entirely successful, and the evacuation of Montevideo and occupation of Misiones were followed by the chasing of the Uruguayan patriot Artigas across the Uruguay River.
Elsewhere the people of the province followed the fortunes of Jose Gervasio Artigas, an able and valiant cavalry officer, who roamed through it at will, bidding defiance to any authority not his own. Most of the former viceroyalty of La Plata had thus, to all intents and purposes, thrown off the yoke of Spain. Chile was the only other province that for a while gave promise of similar action.
This aggression was followed by war between Buenos Aires and Brazil, while a large section of the Uruguayans, headed by Artigas, whose name is famed as the great patriot of the Banda Oriental, by which name the Republic of Uruguay is still familiarly known, fought desperately against the Portuguese troops.
The situation in general was serious. Outside Argentina and Uruguay the Royalist cause had held its own, and in many districts had triumphed. It was said that the Spanish expedition of 15,000 men was on the eve of embarkation in Europe, and even in the victorious River Plate Provinces dissensions between Artigas, the Uruguayan leader, and rival Generals had resulted in civil war.
Artigas fled to Paraguay, where he fell into the clutches of Francia, never to escape. In 1821 the Banda Oriental was annexed to Brazil as the Cisplatine Province. Over Paraguay that grim and somber potentate, known as "The Supreme One" El Supremo presided with iron hand. In 1817 Francia set up a despotism unique in the annals of South America.
In 1819, to be sure, a constitution was adopted, providing for a centralized government, but in the country at large it encountered too much resistance from those who favored a federal government to become effective. In the Banda Oriental, over most of which Artigas and his horsemen held sway, chaotic conditions invited aggression from the direction of Brazil.
In Montevideo the General commanding the Portuguese garrison declared for independence, and left the soldiers to make their own choice; whereupon they followed the remainder of the Portuguese troops to Europe. Uruguay, left to its own choice, retained its allegiance to Brazil until Artigas, a famous leader and partisan of liberty, stirred up the people.
Artigas flung his devoted bands of soldiery alternately against the Brazilians and against the soldiers from Buenos Aires, and the more peaceful inhabitants of Uruguay watched with dismay the advent of a period of chaos.
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